The present invention concerns a device for laying continuously supplied web material in zigzag lengths, the device comprising a pendulous arm located within the supply path and a holding-down device for pushing down the web material at least in the area of the reversal points of the zigzag lengths.
The manufacture of web material, for example, made from fabric, nonwoven, paper material etc., is frequently realized in a continuous process. The continuously produced web material is laid subsequent to manufacture in zigzag lengths in several stacked planes or layers in a receiving and transport container. U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,288 B1 discloses a device in which the placement of continuously supplied web material is realized by means of a pendulous arm that is arranged in the supply path of the web material. The pendulous arm swings back and forth between two end positions wherein a receiving container is movable underneath the pendulous arm transversely to its pendulum movement so that a continuous placement of the web material in the form of zigzag lengths results.
When placing the web material in zigzag lengths, especially the reversal loops resulting in the area of the reversal points between the individual lengths have proven to be disadvantageous. The reversal loops have the tendency to produce bulges projecting relative to the other layer sections; these bulges disrupt the placement of additional zigzag lengths and limit the achievable degree of filling of the receiving and transport containers. In order to keep these bulges as small as possible, in the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,288 B1, two pneumatically operating holding-down devices are provided. After the pendulous arm has placed the web material underneath the holding-down device, the latter is lowered for a short period of time onto the last laid reversal loop and compresses it so that the height of the bulges is reduced and higher degrees of filling of the receiving containers can be achieved.
A disadvantage of such holding-down devices is the correlated great apparatus expenditure and the complex mutual coordination in regard to the pendulum motion of the pendulous arm.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a device of the aforementioned kind that is characterized in particular by its simple construction.